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Standing Buddha with Kharosthi inscription Gandhara, Pakistan Kushan Period 2nd - 3rd Century CE Grey schist Height: 160 cm (ca. 63 inches) With the advance and growing popularity of Mahayana Buddhism during the Kushan period, large detached images were often commissioned by wealthy devotees and placed in shrines, niches and courtyards of the Buddhist viharas whenever the demand for an icon arose. This sculpture of the Buddha, complete with devotional inscription, was evidently commissioned under such circumstances. The inscription reads: JIVASHIRASA - SAMGHANAMDASA - VOHAMITRASA - DANAMUKH? “This is the donation of Jivashiras, Samghananda, Vohamitra,”1 Wearing the monastic garment, sanghati, which, as in most of the standing images covers both shoulders (See figs 1-5). The lower hem of the garment reveals the undergarment (antaravasaka). The hands would have been in standard positions, the right one raised - expressing reassurance, abhaya mudra, while the left would have extended along the body, supporting the hem of the monastic garment (compare Fig.1). The posture of the Buddha is relaxed with the figure’s weight resting on his right foot and the left leg slightly bent at the knee and protruding through the garment. Both the transparency of the clothing and the tendency to model the body is predominant in the Gandharan style of the latter part of the second - third century AD. 1 Prof. Harry Falk, 2002 The Buddha has elongated ear-lobes, downcast eyes. His wavy hair is lightly carried up to the top of the head and surmounted by a large usnisa. This particular image has an exceptionally beautiful face At first glance, the entire corpus of standing Buddhas from Gandhara look very similar. Upon closer examination however, one can see subtle differences in the drapery, hair and overall proportions of the figures, which may correspond to the location of a particular Buddhist site and period. For example, Tissot (SAA 1993: p. 746) points out that the proportions of the standing Buddhas of Sahri-Bahlol (approximately five heads for one body), with their very large shoulders supporting a halo that, in its diameter, is even wider than the shoulders, and their easy flowing garments which shroud the body, lend the images a squat appearance that is the trademark of early Gandharan sculpture, first quarter of the 2nd century AD (Fig. 1) Through comparison with the Sahri-Bahlol examples (Fig. 5) and those from other sites, (Fig.,2 - 5), the differences become clear. For example, the neckline of the drapery of Figs. 2 - 4 follows the curve at the base of the Buddhas neck, whereas the robe of Fig. 5 forms a distinct ‘v,’ and one can see the material gather as it drapes over the Buddha’s right shoulder. The drapery on the torso of Figs. 2 – 5 also runs in smoother folds, unlike the drapery in Fig. 1, which again forms ‘v-folds’ across the chest and under the left arm. - The Buddha under discussion is physiologically more elongated than the Sahri-Bahlol example; the body is more slender, and has a slender - elongated neck (For similar neck see Fig. 5 compare with short neck Fig.1) - Usnisha is composed of two rows of curls, in contrast with Fig. 1 which has a wavy mass pulled up into a bun, in a less schematic way. - This Buddha does not have a moustache, unlike the Sahri-Bahlol examples which do show a faint moustache of the youthful Buddha From these few comparisons we can place this example within the mature period (or height) of Gandharan sculpture, 2nd – 3rd century AD.2 The base of the Buddha may illustrate the Entreaty to Preach Doctrine,3 where a central disk with engraved ‘rays’ rests on a throne and is worshipped by four devotees (Fig. 6). In a number of instances a disc, radiate or plain receives worship in a context where the cult of object is often an attribute such as the Buddhas turban or bowl. Some scholars interpret the disk as the Buddhas halo, but according to Zwalfe, discs occur in a more varied range of examples and many appear rather to symbolise the Buddha himself, especially in connection with the First Sermon (Fig. 7). A proposal to identify the disc as a solar symbol of the Buddha is based on a sky and fire-symbolism connected with concepts of ascent and personal liberation (Enlightenment), return and salvation (First Sermon).4 References Czuma, S. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, Cleveland Museum of Art & Indiana University Press, Cleveland, USA, 1985 Kurita, I. Gandharan Art II - The World of the Buddha, Ancient Buddhist Art Series, Nigensha Publishing Co. Ltd, Japan 1990 Tissot, F Gandhara, Librairie D'Amerique et d'Orient. Paris, 1985 Tissot, F. Sahrī-bāhlol (Part IV) South Asian Archaeology 1993, Part II _______ The Site of Sahrī-bāhlol in Gandhara South Asian Archaeology 1987, Vol. 2 Zwalf, W A A Catalogue of the Gandharan Sculpture in the British Museum, Vol.II British Musuem Press, London 1996 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw The ‘Scythian’ Period – An Approach to the history, art and epigraphy and palaeography of north India from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century Ad, Leiden, 1949 Varardi, Giovanni ‘Avatarana: a note on the Bodhisattva image dated in the third year of Kaniska in the Sarnath Museum’ East and West, 35, 67-101 2 Sculpture was produced in the regions of Gandhara up until the 6 th century AD, but by approximately 7 century AD most of the monasteries were abandoned. 3 Zwalfe, Vol. Ip. 180 4 Verardi, 1985: 85 th Fig. 2 Standing Buddha Mardan, Pakistan Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD Grey schist Height: 115.6 cm Peshawar Museum Fig. 3 Standing Buddha Gandhara, Pakistan Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD Grey schist Height: 116 cm New Delhi National Museum Fig. 4 Standing Buddha Pakistan Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD Grey schist Height: 49 cm British Museum Fig. 5 Standing Buddha Sarhi-Bahlol, Gandhara Kushana Period 2nd – 3rd century CE Schist Height:246 Peshawar Museum (Kurita 206) Fig. 6 Detail: Standing Buddha Gandhara, Pakistan Kushan Period 2nd - 3rd Century CE Grey schist Height: 160 cm (ca. 63 inches) Fig. 7 Panel showing the Entreaty to Preach the Doctrine Gandhara, Pakistan Kushan Period 2nd - 3rd Century CE Grey schist Dimensions: 26.7 x 23.5 x 5.1 cm BM OA 1966.10-17.2